Lumberkings pitcher loses no-hitter, game

Jake Rasner faced one batter over the minimum, but no run support meant his one-hitter was a losing cause Friday night. In a game scheduled for 7 innings, the 8th proved disastrous for Rasner and the Clinton Lumberkings (Rangers) as they dropped a 1-0 contest to the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers (Mariners).

With the very first pitch of the eighth inning, Rattlers catcher Curtis Ledbetter changed everything. Ledbetter lined the pitch off the Fox Cities Stadium scoreboard in left-center field, ending Rasner's no-hitter, shutout, and most importantly his win as Wisconsin defeated the LumberKings, 1-0 in the second game of a double-header.

Rasner (L, 5-16) allowed only three baserunners through seven innings, battling through a scoreless contest with Rattlers lefty David Asher. The LumberKings had several chances against Asher and reliever Brian Kappel, leaving a pair of runners stranded in the sixth and the bases loaded in the eighth.

[more]

The loss puts the Lumberkings in the cellar of the Midwest League (Class A) Western Divisoin, a game behind the Timber Rattlers.

14 Innings In Huntsville

Huntsville Stars (Brewers) LF Brendan Katin hit a 2-out solo home run in the bottom of the 14th inning to give the home team a 4-3 win over the Mississippi Braves Friday night. The Braves catcher was the losing pitcher.

Braves’ catcher Ray Serrano pitched a scoreless 13th inning and retired the first two hitters in the 14th before Katin blasted a 2-1 offering over the wall in left-center field toward the scoreboard for his third home run of the week and his second game-winner since joining the team. Backup catcher Jon Williams worked out of a one out, bases loaded jam in the 11th inning and tossed a scoreless 12th before switching positions with Serrano.

[more]

The win puts Huntsville up by a game and a half in the Southern League (Double A) North Division with 10 games left on their schedule.

24 Runs For Fresno

The Fresno Grizzlies (Giants) didn't score in every inning Friday night. Imagine if they had.

When the game ended, the home team had scored 24 runs against Sacramento River Cats (A's).

The Grizzlies pounded out 24 hits with eight doubles and two home runs to rally from an early 8-2 deficit to pick up their second straight win over the River Cats.

Fresno right fielder Jason Ellison went 5-for-5, tying a single-game record for hits in a game and runs in a game with five runs scored to pace the Grizzlies.

Seven Grizzlies had multi-hit games with Lance Niekro and Jed Hansen recording four hits each and Clay Timpner and Fred Lewis with three hits.

Timpner blasted a grand slam in the 8th inning for his third home run of the season as he finished with a season-high five RBIs. Hansen homered for the second consecutive game in the 8th inning.

[more]

It's Fresno's second win in a row against Sacremento, coming on the heels of a Sacramento sweep of Fresno. The two teams play in the Pacific Coast League (Triple A).

16 Innings In Connecticut

The Connecticut Defenders (Giants) came from behind in the 9th inning, but lost it in the 16th, to the Reading Phillies.

The Defenders battled from behind all night. Trailing 5-2 in the bottom of the 5th inning, Nate Schierholtz who had already doubled to extend his hit streak to 20 games, hit a two run home run over the wall in deep right to make it a 5-4 Reading lead. The Phillies would score two more runs, but in the bottom of the 9th inning trailing 7-4, the Defenders came all the way back. Connecticut scored three runs to tie the game with the last one scoring on a Juan Sosa error at deep short.

[more]

In the 16th, Reading LF Joey Hammond reached on a ground-rule double, then, with 2 outs, scored when 1B Brandon Gemoll singled on a liner to right. The run held up, and the Phillies won the Eastern League (Double-A) contest.

United League Playoffs Begin

United League Baseball playoffs begin tomorrow night.

The Edinburg Coyotes are top seed. They'll play the 4th seed Laredo Broncos. The 2nd place San Angelo Colts will play the 3rd place Alexandria Aces.


Complete final standings

              W   L   PCT GB
EDINBURG     57  33  .633     
SAN ANGELO   46  44  .511 11.0
ALEXANDRIA   45  44  .506 11.5
LAREDO       44  46  .489 13.0
AMARILLO     39  50  .438 17.5
RIO GRANDE   38  52  .422 19.0

[more]

Ironbirds' Figueroa hits for cycle

Danny Figueroa became the first player in the history of the Aberdeen Ironbirds (Orioles) to hit for the cycle Wednesday night against the Staten Island Yankees.

Figueroa went 4-for-5 and hit the first grand slam in franchise history as part of an eight-run second inning. Figueroa doubled in the fourth, singled in the sixth and tripled in the seventh to complete the cycle in his second home game since rejoining Aberdeen on rehab on Sunday.

Figueroa’s grand slam was part of a wild second inning in which Aberdeen sent 13 men to the plate and Staten Island starter James Conroy was ejected. Conroy (0-2) took the loss after he gave up six runs on five hits in 1 1/3 innings. He was ejected after his first pitch sailed behind Pedro Florimon, Jr., the first Aberdeen batter after Figueroa hit the grand slam.

Figueroa’s six RBIs led the way for the IronBirds and Miguel Abreu, David Cash and Kieron Pope added two RBIs apiece as part of the offensive outburst.

[more]

Aberdeen and Staten Island play in the New York-Penn League (Class A Short-Season)

San Diego Forfeits To Yuma

Bus trouble. That's what caused the San Diego Surf Dawgs to forfeit their game to the Yuma Scorpions Monday.

With the forfeit, the Surf Dawgs stand 15-18 for the second half of the season. With the win, Yuma is 13-19.

[more]

The two teams play in the Golden Baseball League.

Fort Worth No Hits El Paso

Fort Worth Cats pitcher Joel Kirsten threw the first no-hitter in modern Cats history Monday night, en route to a 2-0 won over the El Paso Diablos.

Kirsten faced just two batters above the minimum, permitting a walk in the fourth inning and hitting a batter to start the eighth. He struck out a season-high 11 as he notched his second complete game of the year and his seventh win on the season.

With the victory, the Cats clinched at least a tie for a playoff spot in the American Association South as they reduced their magic number to one.

[more]

It's the first no-hitter thrown in the new American Association. The Cats returned to Fort Worth in 2001. The American Association returned this season.

Mavericks Combine For No Hitter

The High Desert Mavericks (Royals) recorded the first no-hitter in franchise history Monday as Patrick Green and Jarod Plummer combined to shut down the Inland Empire 66ers (Mariners).

Green faced the minimum through six innings by throwing his sharp slider for strikes early in the count. Womack reached on a two-out walk in the bottom of the second on an 0-2 pitch, but was thrown out between first and second as he took off too early and Green's throw to Irving Falu at the second base bag was in time to catch the baserunner. Working against a small strike zone where neither starting pitcher was given any benefit of the doubt on the outside corner, Green began to labor in the seventh as he issued three walks in the frame and left with the bases loaded and two outs, giving way to Plummer who induced the Womack popout to shallow left on a running catch by James Tomlin. In the ninth inning, Plummer struck Luis Valbuena and Arroyo swinging, though Arroyo took first on the passed ball. Ronnie Prettyman then send a slow chopper up the middle, though Falu charged the ball, picked it up on the shorthop, and fired over to Stodolka at first for the second out of the inning as Arroyo took second base. With a 2-2 count on Casey Craig, he got underneath a ball and popped it up on the infield as Mike Gaffney moved underneath it and pulled it down on top of the third baseline for the final out of the game.

[more]

The Mavericks and 66ers play in the California League (Class A Advanced).

Columbus (GA) Ballpark Suffers Damage

photo: Columbus Catfish

When the Columbus Catfish (Dodgers) return home from their short road trip up to Rome, they'll have another issue to contend with. While heavy rains interferred with the game against the Rome Braves, heavy winds were wreaking havoc on Golden Park in Columbus.

The center field wall collapsed, and damage was done to the pressbox, the scoreboard, the billboards, and a light tower. Additionally, there was damage to the playing field.

The plan is for a temporary fence to be erected in center field in time for Thursday night's homestand opener. If everything is repaired sufficiently by Thursday, the Catfish' final homestand of the year will take place with several promotions that have been delayed by weather rescheduled for this week.

Four Extra Innings Games In Frontier League

Four of five games played Sunday in the Frontier League went extra innings. And the one game that didn't go into extra frames was won in the bottom of the 9th.

The Windy City ThunderBolts took 12 innings to beat the Evansville Otters 3-2.

CF Kevin House hit a single with runners on the corners and one out in the bottom of the twelfth inning to score Anthony Seratelli. [more]

The Washington Wild Things won a 10-5 11-inning contest with the Florence Freedom. Things fell apart for Florence in the top of the 11th.

Chris Carter began the inning with a single. The left fielder would be brought in after a double by Peavey, making the score 6-5. Lance Koenig advanced the score 7-5 after a RBI single, bringing in Peavey. The rest of the damage was done by the Florence bullpen, as they allowed six walks in the 11th inning alone with pitcher Patrick Clayton creating most of the damage with four walks. Washington earned three more runs and sealed the victory by a solid defensive performance in the bottom of the 11th.

[more]

It took 12 innings for the Gateway Grizzlies to edge the Traverse City Beach Bums 7-6.

Rob Wirth hit a one-out home run in the bottom of the 12th inning Sunday night to lift the Gateway Grizzlies (31-48) to a 7-6 win over the visiting Traverse City Beach Bums (48-33). The second consecutive exta inning win for the Grizzlies came in front of 3,783 fans at GCS Ballpark.

[more]

The River City Rascals won a 5-4 contest from the Chillicothe Paints in 12 innings.

The Rascals continue to make believers in this late season push for the West Division Wild Card spot as an extra-innings single by Trave Hopkins gave River City a 5-4 dramatic victory over the best team in the Frontier League. Chillicothe led 4-3 with two outs in the bottom of the 12th inning when the Rascals’ catcher smacked a single to right off of Eric Teall that scored the tying and winning runs for River City who took three of four games from the first place Paints.

[more]

The lone 9-inning game in the Frontier League almost went extra innings. The Kalamazoo Kings won their game with the Rockford RiverHawks in the bottom of the 9th.

The Rockford RiverHawks had a chance to get their first sweep in Kalamazoo in team history, but the Kalamazoo Kings had different plans.

Mike Russell hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the ninth inning for a walkoff Kings victory, 4-2.

Rockford was still able to get their first ever series win in Kalamazoo by winning the first two games of the series.

[more]

No Hitter For Missoula

Two Missoula Ospreys (Diamondbacks) pitchers combined for a no-hitter Sunday. Osbek Castillo and Hector Ambriz combined to no-hit the Casper Rockies.

Castillo lasted six innings and retired the last 16 he faced. The only Rockies batter to reach off Castillo came on a two out walk to Austin Rauch in the first. Ambriz then followed retiring the first six he faced and allowed only one base runner via third baseman Andrew Fie's throwing error to put Radamis Nazario on base leading off the ninth.

[more]

Missoula and Casper play in the Pioneer League (Rookie).